Cigarette-making machines are equipped with printing apparatus for affixing to the cigarettes the stamps representing their specific trademarks.
The ink used is of a very pasty consistence and is then in tubes; it dries very quickly in the air forming a surface crust. Moreover, the quantities of ink required are very small. This is why the ink reservoirs in these printing apparatus are of very small capacity.
Up to present, these ink reservoirs or boxes were filled by hand, for example every hour and, if the ink started to dry out, it had to be stirred with a wooden spatula.
The Applicant has sought to suppress this manual operation which could cause errors, either by forgetting to fill the ink box or by filling it too full, this ink drying first of all on the surface, then in depth.